1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a carriage apparatus of an ink jet recording apparatus which discharges a photocurable functional liquid to a recording medium by an ink jet type recording head, irradiates and cures the functional liquid landed on the recording medium with light, thereby forming an image on the recording medium, and an ink jet recording apparatus equipped therewith.
2. Related Art
In the related art, there is known an ink jet recording apparatus that has a plurality of coloring (color) ink recording heads (Y, M, C, and K) arranged in a transport direction (a sub scan direction) of the recording medium, one transparent (colorless) ink recording head, and an ultraviolet irradiation apparatus disposed at both outer sides of the recording head, and draws an image on the recording medium, while moving a head unit, which is configured by mounting the recording heads and the ultraviolet irradiation apparatus on a carriage, in a main scan direction and moving the recording medium in a sub scan direction, respectively (see JP-A-2006-289722). In the ink jet recording apparatus, it is configured that the color ink and the colorless ink are discharged and landed with respect to the recording medium, respectively and cured by an ultraviolet irradiation apparatus, thereby forming a desired image on the recording medium.
However, in the above-mentioned ink jet recording apparatus, since a plurality of the recording heads and light irradiation units are mounted on the same carriage, heat generated from the respective ultraviolet irradiation apparatuses is transferred to the respective recording heads via the carriage. For this reason, there occurs a problem that, in the recording heads, viscosity of ink is changed and the discharging amount is changed or distortion is generated in the carriage. That is, there is a problem in that, due to the thermal influence of the ultraviolet light irradiation apparatus, the formation of the image or the curing of ink is not satisfactorily performed, whereby the printing quality deteriorates.